


never grow up again

by orphan_account



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 10:32:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6420193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows she left fairy tales and magic far behind. But she still believes in true love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	never grow up again

_Everyone knows she left fairy tales and magic far behind. But she still believes in true love._

.

.

Her mom never read her bedtime stories. So when the other kids in her classroom talk about true love, or marrying prince charming and becoming a princess, she stays silent.

.

.

She meets Riley, and learns all about magical kingdoms and brave princes. But she knows she'll never be a princess or live in a castle, so she stays at the Matthews' house instead. And although there's no prince to sweep her off her feet, or beautiful castle she'll someday own, she's still happy laying on the ground, listening to Riley tell stories that all start with "Once upon a time…"

.

.

Seventh grade comes, and they begin to meet boys. Not that they didn't already know boys. They'd met a short, nerdy boy named Farkle in 1st grade, and he'd immediately fallen in love with the two friends. But 7th grade boys were different than 1st grade friends.

Somehow they became funnier, cuter, more charming.

It was like magic.

.

.

She wishes happily ever after existed. If it did, Lucas would kiss her and tell her she was his princess and he was her prince, and they'd invite Riley and Farkle to come live with them in their magic castle.

But then again, if happily ever after did exist, she'd be a famous artist supporting for her mother. Her ideas of fairy tales were somewhat different than the other kids'.

.

.

It stings when he chooses Riley to be his princess. Not that she cares. Maya Hart doesn't care what anyone thinks about her.

Right?

.

.

She's outgrown fairy tales. And though Riley still believes in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus, she knows, someday, her friend will outgrow them, too. She's done with magic, and princes, and dreaming about being a princess. She's 14 now. Too old for childish things like that.

So when she lays on the floor with her best friend, there is no "Once upon a time." Riley's stories begin with "Today Lucas asked me," and "He's just like a prince."

.

.

She teases him, and he teases her right back. But that's all they do. It goes nowhere from there.

She doesn't sit with her friends that day.

.

.

She kisses someone in the janitor's closet, trying to forget that stupid country boy. The one who sits behind her in History class and passes notes with her when nobody else will. The one who helps her with her homework, despite the constant cowboy jabs.

And she can't forget him, so she goes home and draws. And draws. And draws. Until they run out of paper and her mother screeches at her, because "You're wasting our money with your art."

So she steals a pad of paper from the school, and it all goes downhill from there.

.

.

He finds her taking a set of colored pencils from the lost and found, muttering to herself about paper.

"Maya! What are you doing?"

"Nothing, cowboy. Go back to the ranch."

So he runs to the store the next day, and picks up several pads of paper and some paints and pencils. She find them in her locker the next day. Sixty four pieces of paper, sixteen different colored pencils, and two paint pads.

.

.

She's happy, then, because she knows he did it. But then she sees him with Riley, flirting and laughing at her quirkiness, and sadness begins to manifest itself, eating her from the inside out like a sickness that can't be cured. So she sneaks back into the history classroom and sits on her desk, and cries.

Because she knows now. Knows that she likes Lucas Friar, and he will never like her back.

.

.

Before she knows it, she's pressed against someone new behind the school, trying to forget everyone and everything that has anything in common with Lucas Friar. And even though she's disgusted by the thought of kissing anyone who isn't _him_ , she continues to meet that someone behind the school.

And it's so painful to kiss those lips, when _he_ sits right behind her every day in History. But he doesn't talk to her anymore. No, he talks to her little plant, who seems to be stretching further towards the sun every day.

So she goes home, throwing herself through each day, until she wants nothing more than to sleep as soon as she's home, and leave as soon as she's up.

.

.

She's fighting her way through that awful cycle one day, when he grabs her shoulders and spins her around to face him.

"Maya, why are you avoiding me?" He asks, light green eyes staring straight through her walls.

"I'm not avoiding you, Lucas." She replies, looking down the hall, at her shoes, up at the ceiling, anywhere but at him.

"Yes, you are. You're avoiding me, Farkle, Riley, everybody. And I want to know why, and I want to know now."

His voice is filled with such passion, such caring, she has to look up at him. And when she does, he doesn't see the confident, daring girl he met on the subway one year ago. He sees a quiet, dangerous, hurt… broken girl.

And nothing else is said, because he wraps his arms around her, and she begins sobbing into his shoulder, because it's all so wrong, because he belongs with Riley, because she stayed up drawing until 2 a.m. last night, and she's too tired to care what anyone thinks anymore.

.

.

He breaks up with Riley, and she swears she'll never forgive him for breaking her best friend's heart.

She does, though. She can't seem to help herself, and Riley's pushing her to go make up with him, because "Even though he and I broke up, it doesn't mean you two can't still be friends."

So she calls him that night and apologizes over and over until she's just sobbing into the phone and he's on the other end, telling her how everything will work out eventually, and she has nothing to apologize for, except maybe avoiding her friends and not letting them help. And the next day, she arrives at school early and throws her arms around his neck the second he walks by, not caring who saw or what they thought.

_Let them stare._

.

.

She breaks up with the someone she used to meet behind the school. She returns the supplies she'd taken from the school, quietly, and without conflict. She starts looking at her friends when she talks to them, starts eating with them again.

He notices the small changes in her mood. How her smiles seem less wooden, and her sketches and paintings gradually lighten in color. And one day, he finds himself watching her, smiling at her look of concentration.

She glances up, and he doesn't turn away.

.

.

Finally, she met him behind a statue at Central Park. Finally, she got to taste his lips.

Finally, she knew true love.


End file.
